Faculty Forum Showcases KCC’s Brightest Professorial Minds

Kingsborough Interim President Peter Cohen began the event with opening remarks.

Kingsborough faculty were given the opportunity to showcase their work from this semester at the annual faculty forum on Thursday, November 30 as departments from Business, Art, English, Journalism, Communications, Performing Arts, Philosophy, Political Science, and Behavioral Sciences delivered presentations that showcased their academic and professional research, which included their upcoming books, student experiments and ideologies.

“Kingsborough’s faculty are hard working and incredibly passionate,” Kingsborough Interim President Peter Cohen said at the start of the forum. “Events like this showcase how important their work is to not only the Kingsborough Community but the community around us.”

Dorina Tila and Dawn Levy’s presentation on Accelerating & Nurturing Students’ Learning Using Technology stressed the importance of new media with current students.

While every presentation was unique, a few stood out. Laura Spinu from the Department of Communications and Performing Arts explored the bilingual advantage with her specialization in phonetics. Through the use of experimental work, Spinu’s efforts support the differences in auditory sensory memory between bilinguals and monolinguals.

“I can visualize and measure aspects of voice and speech and can analyze the speech of anyone,” said Spinu.

After writing and reviewing hundreds of video games, the Journalism Program’s Patrick Hickey Jr. teased the January 2018 release of his book about video game developers, emphasizes the importance of not only the video games but the genius minds behind the masterpieces.

Hickey is from the Department of English and utilizes his journalistic experience to his advantage when interviewing video game developers.

“I employed the same journalism method in this book that I teach my students at Kingsborough,” Hickey stated.

Dr. Joanne Russell VP for Academic Affairs and Provost also spoke at the event and discussed the importance of faculty research outside the classroom.

The use of student experiments to prove the effectiveness of technology in a classroom setting was also explored through Dorina Tila and Dawn Levy’s presentation. Through multiple classroom studies from the department of business, students experience how technology enhances teaching methods and learning.

All in all, it was an event that showed how much more the professors of KCC have to offer.

“We have so many special faculty members here,” Dean of Faculty Dr. Cathy Leaker said. “I’m so happy to be able to see all of their unique and engaging work.”

Photos by Nayelis Vargas

Nayelis Vargas and Jonathan Perez contributed reporting to this story.